CalPERS, gun control, immigration and more

Fong and CalPERS

In response to “Two state agencies, one management culture” (Editorial, utsandiego.com, March 5): The U-T San Diego Editorial Board crossed the line in your March 5 piece bashing CalPERS and the High Speed Rail Authority. This article cannot in good conscience be designated an editorial. It was instead a smear of a respected individual and two forward-thinking organizations. We’d like to set the record straight.

CalPERS is in the midst of unprecedented change from which we don’t shy away. We have been active participants in ensuring public pensions are sustainable, and will continue to adjust our strategies and methods to keep promised benefits affordable and secure for public workers. Russell Fong has been a leader within our organization as we work toward these goals.

During Mr. Fong’s tenure, CalPERS increased transparency and oversight that elevated our financial integrity. Within the Financial Office, he created a new approach to cash management to help staff actively monitor and manage our cash flow. He established collections procedures to ensure timely payments to CalPERS and he improved the reconciliation process and transparency of our investment expenses. When the High Speed Rail [Authority] hired Russell Fong, they got a seasoned professional – with a strong history of oversight and independence.

In future pieces, we challenge you to meet at least some of the standards you require of your online commenters: Be relevant, respectful, honest, discreet and responsible. – Brad Pacheco, Chief, CalPERS Office of Public Affairs

Double-barreled ‘doublespeak’

[Chula Vista] Mayor [Cheryl] Cox’s statement at the end of the recent article on her support for the gun ban legislation proposed by U.S. Sen. Feinstein (“Republican mayor backs gun control,” March 8) illustrates precisely why politicians are held in such low regard by the electorate. Though claiming that she is not “… chipping away at the right to buy arms legally or … hold legal weapons, …” that is precisely what she is doing in supporting a bill that will, with the stroke of a pen, outlaw more than 150 firearms that are currently legal for sale and ownership by law-abiding citizens in this country. Regardless of political party affiliation, that’s just more of the same old “doublespeak” that we citizens have had to put up with for far too long. – John Turner, San Diego

Fashioning political vagueness

Michael Gerson’s column, “Jeb Bush’s reform,” (Opinion, March 8), ends up being more of a politically expedient refutation. In fact, the U-T’s Elizabeth Aguilera, in her March 6 report, “Jeb Bush’s new book adds spice to debate on immigration,” confirms that Bush’s position changed from one of being resolutely opposed to access to citizenship for those here illegally to a “clarification” that would “support a pathway to citizenship if reform is done in way that prevents future illegal immigration.”

It is quite apparent that the Republicans are so desperate to get the issue of immigration off of the table, due to the lack of support among Hispanic voters, that they are willing to be complicit in re-enacting the dismal failure of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), which granted amnesty to the then 2.7 illegal immigrants in the country without effectively implementing the strict enforcement measures included in the law. Of course, this only resulted in the 11 million illegal immigrants now in question.